Two Flights Recently Forced To Return To Departure Airport

The Rolls-Royce engines powering Air New Zealand's Dreamliners have been experiencing some problems of late, forcing two flights to return to their departure airports last week.

The New Zealand Herald reports that on December 5, a Dreamliner en route to Tokyo was forced to return to Auckland International Airport when one of the engines began to shake and was shut down. An airline official told the paper that compressor blades on that engine failed. The second case was less critical, the official told the paper. Both incidents are under investigation by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.

Air New Zealand has 11 Dreamliners in its fleet powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent engines. The engine issues have forced the carrier to cancel multiple flights, a situation which the airline says could last "for weeks." The Herald reports that the airline is working to consolidate flights and increase capacity in an effort to keep up with the holiday travel season.

A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said that the engine maker is working to restore full capacity to the airline as quickly as possible. 'It's not uncommon for long-term engine programs to experience technical issues during their life and we manage them through proactive maintenance. Trent 1000 is now approaching six years of revenue service," the spokeswoman said.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report